CWA Urges Rejection: Colombia Trade Pact Fails to Protect Workers

CWA is urging Congress to reject the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, saying the badly flawed deal effectively endorses an economic and legal system that is designed to block workers' collective bargaining rights and workplace protections.

The House could vote on the agreement as soon as next week. Click here to add your voice to growing list of concerned citizens telling Congress to reject the deal.

Although the Obama administration developed a "labor action plan" to address unions' concerns about Columbia's horrific track record on workers' rights, CWA and other opponents of the deal say the plan lacks accountability and any means of enforcement.

As a result, corporations in Colombia continue to ignore and abuse workers' rights with impunity. Violence against union activists in Colombia has become a way of life, with nearly 3,000 union activists murdered in the past 25 years. In 2010, 51 trade unionists were murdered and the killings have continued this year, despite Colombia's signing of the Labor Action Plan in April.

Colombian labor laws prevent over 80 percent of the nation's workers from organizing into unions. About 15 million of the country's 18 million workers are classified as "cooperativos" and contractors, which makes them ineligible for workplace protections and the right to bargain and denies them government-backed health care or retirement benefits.

Click here for more information about the battle for workers' rights in Colombia and how you can help stop the trade deal.